


Gate: Thus Line Ark Fought There

by JaphetSkie



Category: Armored Core (Video Games), ゲート 自衛隊彼の地にて斯く戦えり - 竿尾悟 | Gate: Jietai Kanochi nite Kaku Tatakaeri - Sao Satoru (Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2020-12-31 01:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21028484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaphetSkie/pseuds/JaphetSkie
Summary: Reposted from my account at fanfiction.net





	1. Pandemonium

**Author's Note:**

> Heya, JaphetSkie here! Since I've decided to expand my horizons for a little bit, I've decided to repost this fic in Wattpad and to this site. Enjoy!

“This is Officer Lionels, we have a situation at Sector 7’s highway. Some cars reportedly collided with something unseen on the middle of the road. I’m requesting for dispatch of traffic control teams and some towing trucks over here. We’re gonna have to cordon off any present motorists and close off the highway until the incident is resolved, over.”

_“Copy that, Officer Lionels. How many casualties are there on the incident site?”_

“There’s a couple of civvies, nonfatal injuries. How long until they’ll arrive?”

_“10 minutes tops.”_

“Alright, I’ll go and help out in… what the hell?”

_“Officer Lionels? Is something wrong?”_

“Y-yeah, we’ve got a situation here. The invisible thing the cars hit? It just revealed itself.”

_“Is it armed?”_

“Uh, no, it doesn’t look like it had any combat capabilities at all. I mean, it’s a Romanesque structure that looked like a gateway or something. Hold on, something’s happening.”

_“Describe what’s going on.”_

“There’s something black appearing in the space in the middle of the structure, I don’t know. I-I’m going to vacate everyone off the area, it might be dangerous for all we know.”

_“Alright, evacuate all civilians present on the vicinity. We’ve already notified HQ and they’re sending in SWAT teams and an EOD squad via choppers, ETA 4 minutes.”_

“Will do. Over and, out.” He sighed before he started his task by going to the nearest group of civilians, a small family of three, standing near one of the wrecked vehicles. “Sir, ma’am, please vacate the area. The place has been deemed potentially dangerous.”

The only man within the group, possibly the father and husband, approached him with a slightly worried look in his face. “But sir, where would we go? Our car was wrecked from what happened, and it would take at least 3 hours to walk from here to our house.”

“There’s a nearby police outpost not too far from here. Just ask for directions towards there and file a report. My fellow cops could give you a ride home.” The man thanked him before they began to get off the place.

Lionels then noticed the increasing crowd some meters away from the structure, and so he decided to try to disperse the crowd as much as he could.

“Alright people, that’s enough taking pictures! SWAT is coming in any minute now, so get outta here!” shouted the officer, trying to get the people away from the scene, which worked in a degree as the crowd gradually became smaller. But there are still some persistent idiots that didn’t seem to hear what he said, so he had to tell them off again.

And then the screams began.

Alarmed, he frantically looked around, and saw a- HOLY FUCKING SHIT, IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON?!?!?!?! WHAT IN THE HELL?!?!?!?!?!

_“NO! Calm yourself! Every second is vital!”_ he screamed to himself as he drew his Gauss Pistol. Taking aim at the dragon, he noticed that it had a rider, and so he switched targets and killed the man with a couple well-aimed shots in his center mass.

_“Their armor is useless against .50 rounds. Good.”_ He thought to himself as his police training kicked in, taking cover at one of the vehicles before taking aim at the void between the structure’s pillars.

His watchful eyes spotted a soldier with archaic armor and weapons marching out, then another, and then another. There’s also beings straight out of fantasy novels that came along with the soldiers, wielding swords, spears, clubs, axes, and many other ancient tools of death.

But out of many soldiers and beasts that came out, one stood out from the rest: A regally-armored soldier in horseback, flanked with more cavalrymen holding war banners of their nation.

Their leader showed up. Perfect.

He lined up a shot to the man’s head, his finger on the trigger. He’s not worried about missing the shot, since he’s about 50 feet away and under the vehicle’s cover. But once he kill the man, he’d be in a very dangerous situation.

Once he pull the trigger, the others will come and kill him. But he’s more than happy to sacrifice his life, if it means he’d done something for his home.

He took a deep breath, and then he fired.

** _BANG!_ **

And now, there’s only one thing left to do.

“This is Officer Lionels, Omega-0 is under effect! I repeat, Omega-0 is under effect! Line Ark is under attack!” He shouted over the radio as he ran hard while continuously shooting at the army that spotted him and began pursuit.

Protocol Omega-0. One of the many well-memorized police protocols he learned on the academy. The protocol that when enacted, signals that the nation is under enemy attack; A protocol that brings the last bastion of democracy to war.

And these are the last words he said, as he was impaled by the spear of one of the many horde of men and beasts that rushed out like a flood.

But even with his consciousness fading away, even with his vision beginning to blur, he didn’t let go of his weapon as he wildly fired at the horde until he drew his last breath.

And thus, Officer Henry Lionels’ life was cut short, but not before taking down 6 enemy soldiers and 4 humanoid beasts with him.

* * *

**_Weyland Airbase, 2 Miles from Sector 7, 15 minutes later…_**

* * *

** _“ALERT! PROTOCOL OMEGA-0 IS ENACTED! THE NATIONAL DEFENSE READINESS CONDITION IS SET TO 3! ALL UNITS ARE TO MOBILIZE AND FOLLOW WARTIME PROTOCOLS ASAP!”_ **

Klaxons and alarms rang out as many pilots ran from their barracks to gear up, while the technicians rushed to the hangars to do preliminary checks on the various forms of aircraft on the base.

There are still questions yet to be answered, mysteries yet to be solved. They have no idea how they were attacked from within, or who did it and why, but one thing’s for sure:

Their home is being invaded, and they sure as hell are going to defend it.

** _“NOTICE TO WEYLAND AIRBASE: SECTOR 7 IS UNDER ATTACK, MILITARY RESPONSE IS IN ORDER! ALL ACTIVE PILOTS, REPORT TO THE BRIEFING ROOM!”_ **

Their families and fellow citizens are in danger, and so they shall vanquish their adversaries.

Their enemies dare desecrate their paradise of steel and concrete that lay in the middle of the sea, and so they shall fight to take back every inch of it.

They swore an oath before the flag, and thus they shall do everything in their power to accomplish their duty, even if it would be the last thing they’d do.

* * *

** _Meanwhile, in Cradle 01…_ **

* * *

**[Incoming Transmission: Operative “Waverider”]**

**<Accept>**

**[Establishing Communications…]**

“Report.”

_“Sir, something’s happening here on Line Ark. They were saying it’s some kind of a terrorist attack that happened in one of their mostly populated residential sectors.”_

“Have you ascertained the culprits behind the attack?”

_“Unfortunately, no. There’s too much rumors and theories circulating around that we couldn’t even ascertain which information is actually true. I’m sorry sir.”_

“No, that’s alright. All that matters is that Line Ark’s military is preoccupied at this moment. You’re dismissed.”

**[Transmission Ended.]**

**<Call: Lt. General Kim>**

**[Request Sent. Pending for Reply…]**

**[Transmission Accepted. Establishing Communications…]**

“Lieutenant General.”

_“Sir.”_

“What’s the status of the 6th Air Fleet?”

_“All armed and ready sir. Do you have any orders?”_

“Yes. In case you haven’t heard, Line Ark just got attacked from within by possible terrorists. Add the fact that White Glint is on a mission right now, this is the perfect opportunity to finally strike down those annoyances.”

_“Understood. Any rules of engagement?”_

“Take no prisoners, and leave no survivors behind. I want that upstart nation burning to ashes tomorrow, down to its foundations.”

_“As you wish, Mr. Chairman.”_

* * *

**_Somewhere in New Zealand…_ **

* * *

_“No more enemies registering on the radar. I’d say this is another mission complete.”_ A female voice concluded over the comm link as a bipedal machine as torn to pieces by a gunfire burst that came from a 063ANAR assault rifle. Meanwhile the pilot of the NEXT that wielded it, a man in his mid-20s, slumped on disappointment once he heard from his operator that the mission’s over.

Their employers from Rosenthal hired them to locate and destroy the remnant of a terrorist group that holed up somewhere in New Zealand. And seeing that there’s a colony nearby where the terrorists hid, the higher-ups of Rosenthal was worried that they’re probably going to launch an attack and cause untold civilian casualties. The company’s troops are stretched thin from border patrols and engagement with bandits, and so it was up to him and Fiona to do the job.

Unfortunately however, the information Rosenthal gave them was quite incorrect.

It was easy, way too easy that Fiona, in the safety of her deep reconnaissance plane, counted only a dozen Muscle Tracers and a mere handful of low-end ACs on the field. But if there’s one thing that alarmed him very much, it’d be the fact that they’ve got a small stockpile of _tactical nuclear warheads_ in their hideout.

But hey, the terrorists are dead and they’re getting paid a hefty sum of money. There’s no way he’s gonna complain for that.

But deep down in his gut, he still feel that something’s not right. Some might call him paranoid, but he learned to trust his instincts ever since he started his LYNX career. And boy, his instincts were what kept him alive when his fellow LYNX died killing each other off during the LYNX War.

_"William, we have to go back, now! Line Ark was being attacked!”_

He just had to fucking jinx it, didn’t he?


	2. Crisis

"_What in the flying fuck?" _is the recurring thought in every pilot in their respective aircraft as they saw dragons fly about all over the area of operations.

They expected heavily-armed terrorists supplemented with Technicals, heavy power armor, or even MTs, but this?

This is absolute bullshit.

There are those who are beginning to question their own sanity, while some others wondered to themselves if it's an act of a rather bored deity. The latter are actually correct with their presumptions, but they don't know that, nor do they ever need to.

"The hell? Who thought it'd be a bloody great idea to do genetic experiments with lizards and turn them into muthafuckin' dragons?!" exclaimed a rather pissed helicopter pilot of Australian descent as they began to draw in closer to the landing zone.

His copilot, who is just as equally stupefied as he was, managed to gain his wits and replied, "Dunno mate, but they're attacking us! That's good enough reason for us to blast 'em bastards to bits!"

"Amen to that!" the occupants of the helicopter said as the door gunners began to open fire with their heavy machine guns.

* * *

Remus Tu Faluna was idly cruising around with his dragon, watching with clear distaste as his comrades pillaged, raped, and slaughtered everything and everyone in their way.

Unlike those fools from the Empire, he didn't like mindless murder. His father, despite being a high-ranking mage in Rondel, was a very honorable and kind man even towards his enemies, and he made sure that his children would follow his example. And so, even though he was ordered have his men kill as many as possible, he stayed true to his moralities and virtues, something that is quite unusual for a soldier that is supposed to kill.

But that's not all there is to him, as he descended from a bloodline of prestigious magic users that existed ever since the Saderan Empire was founded. And coming from a family of mages, he had some studies in the thaumaturgic arts. As a child, he was always lauded as the smartest and the most gifted among his siblings, and his parents made him study magic at a very young age because of it.

But even though he was so close to actually becoming a Sage at his teens, he still felt no satisfaction from all of his achievements. Being a researcher of magic never felt right for him, not at all.

And so, at the young age of 16, he quit his studies and travelled all over Falmart for 2 years, and it was then that he discovered one thing about himself...

He liked- no, _loved_ the thrill of battle. It may go against what he was taught as a child, but it is what his heart desired.

Making up his mind, he went to the capital and enlisted as a soldier, and with the help of his intelligence, hard work, and the experience he accumulated from many wars and battles he participated in, he managed to become an officer of the Empire's Dragon Rider Corps in a short time period, as expected of a prodigy like him.

But in the Empire, your skills didn't matter much. If you're not born of nobility, you're looked down upon no matter what your achievements are.

Which brings us to his internal ravings.

"_I told them to remain wary for the enemy might have their own surprises against us, but those bastards just wouldn't listen to me! Now look what happened, Lord Pyrrhus is dead just a few minutes after he went through the Gate!" _he lamented to himself.

He warned them about the fact that any form of civilization will always have an army to defend themselves. But since he's just a "mere officer", his warning weren't given much regard.

He breathed deeply and muttered, "Join the army, they said. You'll reap glory, they said. Bah!"

_ **RATATATATA!** _

"_Where did that come from?!" _Remus frantically thought as he saw one of his fellow riders fall down, as if shot down by a ballista concealed somewhere. He quickly looked around for anything, and saw that there's an entire group of _somethings _approaching his group fast.

"_That can't be good. I have to outrun them, fast!"_ his adrenaline kicked in as he had his dragon dive down in an attempt to get away from the approaching objects, which worked in a degree. Having a few seconds to spare, he began to take a good look of his enemy.

His mind went to overdrive as he wracked his brains for anything he could deduce from his pursuer's appearance, _"Is that a new type of dragon? No, that can't be it. I know what dragons look like, and it surely doesn't look like one! If anything, it looked more like a gigantic dragonfly!"_

And his problems didn't end there as the pursuing helicopter's door gunners opened fire at him, the magnetically-accelerated .50 BMG rounds close to killing him if it weren't for the hasty defensive barrier spell he put in the last second.

"Oh, great. And now they're using magic!" the man screamed to no one in particular as he had his dragon swerve wildly in an attempt to dodge the hail of gunfire being poured to him.

This is simply not his day.

* * *

"Damn! This bastard's good at dodging, I'll give him that." The helicopter's right door gunner clicked his tongue. "You got a lock on to 'em? We might as well use a micro-missile on that one."

"Nah, we need some prisoners for intel, and we need the dragon as intact as possible. A perfect gift for them eggheads, I tell ya." Was the copilot's reply.

The gunner wasn't pleased by the answer, "Fuck you, that bastard's not the only one out here, ain't he?! Just fucking shoot him with the missiles, damn it!"

The copilot just rolled his eyes in annoyance and pressed a few buttons, "Fine, fine. Arming micro-missiles."

He checked the HUD, "Target locked on."

And pressed the trigger, "Firing."

Remus, still being chased by the helicopter, suddenly heard popping sounds, then a whoosh. He knew it came from the thing that was chasing him, but as much as he doesn't want to know what was it, he still dared to look behind him.

Just in time for a couple of micro-missiles to hit his dragon by its lower body and detonate.

The explosion blew him away, straight to a roof of one of the buildings around the area.

And then the agony came.

"AAAARRRRGGHHH!" His screams of pain rang out as his right leg was badly broken by the fall, his voice drowned out by the sounds of warfare all around him. But even with the pain, he gritted his teeth and tried to see how bad the fracture was.

There's a bulge in the shin, which probably meant that the broken bone was shifted forwards. The calf was also beginning to bruise, meaning that the fibula was also broken, damaging some muscles and capillaries that caused blood to accumulate in the affected area.

He didn't stop cursing his bad luck for minutes afterwards.

* * *

** _Somewhere on the East Coast of Australia..._ **

* * *

Fiona Jarnefeldt was beginning to get frustrated.

Impatiently tapping her foot as she is sitting down in the copilot seat, the transport plane they're in was cruising at the speeds of 500 to 600 Kilometers per hour, which is too slow for her liking. Add the fact that they have to commence aerial refueling once in a while as they cross the continent, they've been taking too much time in the air, precious time which they can't afford to waste.

Looking back at when she received the news of the attack, she at first had the impression that the League was behind it, but the higher-ups confirmed that it came from within the borders of the maritime city-state, which is not the standard MO of most corporations. They are straightforward and wouldn't spare any expenses in dealing with threats, but they know how to pick their fights, and they would leave you alone if you're not worth it. And since Line Ark never did much that could make them a serious threat to the League, they weren't paid much attention.

Which leads to the current mystery she couldn't solve: If it wasn't one of the corporations, who did it then and why?

Regardless, Line Arks is under attack and the national defense forces are pretty much preoccupied at the moment.

And once the League gets word of this…

She shook her head, trying to forget the memories of her home burning down to the ground. She learned her lesson the hard way when Joshua O'Brien destroyed Anatolia, and so she'll do everything within her power to make sure that Line ark wouldn't suffer the same fate as her hometown did.

She began to think on how to cut the travel time short, and it was then she realized…

They could just ditch the plane and have White glint use Overboost at Normal Mode.

She suddenly felt like banging her head on to the cockpit. Why in God's name didn't she ever think of that?

NEXTs have 2 system modes: Normal Mode & Combat Mode. NEXTs are designed to have different energy distribution schemes between the 2 system modes by switching off the combat-related components in the system when in Normal Mode, and activating them when in Combat Mode.

Such mechanism was created for the pilot's convenience in configuring the power distribution to allow nearly indefinite Overboosting if the NEXT is in Normal Mode. But despite the increased energy pool, it still doesn't do much help that even lightweight NEXT builds with near-permanent flight time are only capable of nonstop Overboosting for 20 minutes tops at Normal Mode.

The differences it could do isn't too significant, but it's a much faster way to cross the continent than being transported by a very slow plane.

Making up her mind, Fiona then walked in to her boyfriend, who is currently jotting down notes in the journal that he always brought with him. "William…" she nudged him. The man turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Get to your NEXT, we're getting out of this plane."

He blinked. "Are your thinking…"

"Yes, we're getting off the plane. Get your NEXT ready."

He grinned, "Neat, but there's only seat for one."

Fiona only gave him a knowing smirk. "You wouldn't mind me sitting on your lap, would you?"

The Rank 9 LYNX couldn't help but chuckle. "Only you, Fiona. Only you."

* * *

Somewhere on East Timor, a well-concealed military base is hustling with activity. Crewmen and pilots are running to their respective machines, technicians are doing system checks and diagnostics, air traffic controllers are managing the airships, helicopters, and many other aircraft that are about to take off, and the commanders are finalizing their battle plans for the upcoming operation.

And their objective: Destroy Line Ark.

Lieutenant General Kim watched the base from the bridge of the Eclipse Arms Fort he's commandeering. 6 Eclipse AFs, a dozen airships, and hundreds of airborne Normals are involved in the upcoming slaughter.

With this fleet, the age of nations will finally end, and the corporations being one step closer to achieving unbridled control over the world.

"_And my name will be known to history as the man who brought the last nation down to its knees."_

* * *

**_Back to Line Ark..._**

* * *

The 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment had been the first of Line Ark's ground forces to deploy and fight off the invaders encroaching Sector 7. As a fairly sizable force, it was supplemented by a tank company, an air defense artillery group, an assorted platoon of MTs and Normals, and an entire helicopter wing that was protected by half a dozen flights of attack helicopters and drones.

And to make things more unfair for the Imperial Army, the technological and military differences between the two opposing factions are laughably immense. Shields and arrows are rendered useless by Gauss weapons and Tactical Light Infantry Exoskeletons respectively, Ballistas couldn't even pierce a tank's composite armor, and dragons are simply not fast enough to dodge antiaircraft fire, let alone withstand them.

Needless to say, the Saderan Empire was fucked, six ways to Sunday.

A controlled burst came from her automatic pistol, and Colonel Zenna Prescott took down another straggler that refused to surrender. Ejecting the 20-round clip of her gun, she grabbed her last mag and slapped it to the magazine well before flicking the slide lock.

Her helmet's HUD showed to her that there's no more life signs in her general vicinity, which is the last room on the top floor of the apartment her squad has occupied. Seeing that her area's clear, she radioed her comrades, "Wraith-01 here, room's clear."

All she received are affirmations from her squad that the other rooms are also devoid of neither enemy presence nor of civilians. She then announced, "Alright, floor's clear. Rendezvous on the roof, I'll call in a chopper for extraction once we get there."

"_Affirmative, Colonel. But what about the next block we're supposed to search?"_ One of her subordinates questioned her.

"The others could deal with it. I'm pretty sure you guys are running low on ammo. Wraith-01, out." Was her reply before cutting off her comms and proceeding to the stairs that led to the rooftop. She was about to walk up the stairway when she heard a voice ahead of her.

A voice that was speaking Latin, to be exact. And the only ones that could possibly speak Latin this fluently are…

Zenna quickly readied her pistol and aimed at the door as she walked up. Opening it as soon as she reached it, she scanned the area for any hostiles…

Only to find that it's one of the invaders' men sitting down in the floor, and he apparently was cursing a string of expletives that could make even a sailor blush. In Latin.

Yes, she knew Latin. She learned it out of sheer interest on the subject, and it was the fourth language she learned, with French and Japanese as her second and third language respectively.

They had orders to take prisoners if they could, and since he's injured, she might as well capture him while he hasn't noticed her yet.

Drawing her 12-inch combat knife, she sneaked behind him, careful not to make a sound with each step. Once she's within arm's reach, she suddenly poised the blade at where his carotid artery should be, and her pistol's barrel planted behind his head.

"Deditionem mori." She commanded.

* * *

Wincing in pain as he tightened a double half hitch knot, Remus finally completed his makeshift splint for his leg. The numbing spell he casted on it would only last for half a day, so he'll have to find a way to get out of the building and get medical attention as soon as possible. He found a metal pipe lying around, so he could use it as a crutch to walk.

When he was about to grab the object however, he felt something pressed against the back of his head, and a knife at his throat. The person said, "Surrender or die." to him. How she knew his people's language, he'll never know.

But one thing's for sure, the gods are probably toying with him right at this moment.


	3. Escalation and Aftermath

Somewhere in West Australia, a dozen miles northeast of a Tungsten mine that's due to be decommissioned in a week, an outpost under Line Ark's control is under attack.

SAMs, flak rounds, and lasers lit up the skies as antiaircraft emplacements attempt to shoot down the airships and airborne Normals that are slowly but surely closing in the distance towards the base. Severely outnumbered and outgunned, the outcome is very clear that they'd get slaughtered once the League's air fleet reaches them.

Any sane commander would've ordered a retreat the moment the fleet was detected, but this particular commander in charge of the outpost had other plans.

Instead of falling back, he resolved to stay to fight, as he just received word that Line Ark is busy dealing with attackers in one of their residential sectors. If the air fleet reaches the city, it will result to a 3-way battle that might result to Line Ark's utter destruction, and he can't let that happen.

And it's not just him who decided on doing so, as his subordinates are more than willing to stay alongside him. Out of 200 men, only 49 fled back home.

The plan is simple: hold the line and kill as many as they could.

They had 12 attack helicopters, 36 Electronic Warfare drones and 25 Light Attack drones as aerial assets, complemented by 14 Sniper Cannon emplacements, 8 laser batteries and 6 missile platforms for ground-to-air support.

The outpost is stationed on the foot of a plateau, so they had some terrain advantage that will keep the enemy from outflanking them.

The opening volley from their antiaircraft weapons had managed to wipe out dozens of helicopters and some Normals, but it wasn't long before the League forces fired back in retaliation, killing off 31 of their men in a missile barrage.

It won't take long until all of them would die, but they still kept going, attacking the fleet with more ferocity than before.

Ten minutes have passed, then fifteen, then thirty, and the casualties on their side just kept piling up faster than they could inflict damage to the hostiles. From the initial 150, there's now about 40 men left on the outpost.

Meanwhile, on the outpost's CIC, the comms officer is attempting to contact allied forces for reinforcements and to warn them of the enemy air fleet, as ordered by his commander.

"Alert to all military installations, Outpost 5 is engaging a League air fleet! I say again, Outpost 5 is under attack, we're currently fighting off a League-affiliated air fleet! No enemy NEXT on the field, but they have airships and Eclipse AFs with them!"

A few seconds later, _"This is LSW King Neptune of the 1st Carrier Strike Group, we hear you loud and clear."_

An ally from the sea heeded the call.

"THE _King Neptune_? Thank God, we could use your help right now! How long can you send in your fighters here?"

"_Hold on… Based on the distance, ETA 25 minutes. You're lucky that you're within operational range of our fighters."_

"Good. Also, warn the Home Defense Fleet of the situation, over."

"_Will do. Hang in there, help is on the way. Good luck."_

"Thank you. Outpost 5, out." The comms officer then ended the transmission. His eyes having a resigned look, he turned to his commander. "It's done, commander."

The commander nodded in approval, both of them knowing that the reinforcements would be too late to save them. "You did good, Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir. It's been a pleasure working with you."

"Likewise."

A stray High-Intensity Laser shot vaporized the CIC, and they knew no more.

* * *

Line Ark only had 8 fleets at their disposal: The Home Defense Fleet, a Carrier Strike Group, a Submarine Squadron, 2 Aerial Strike Fleets, and 3 Littoral Strike Groups. The _LSW King Neptune, _Line Ark's sole aircraft carrier and the flagship of the 1st CSG, is said to be one of the most powerful Supercarriers ever built.

With a Fusion Reactor powering its 463-meter long frame, the _King Neptune_ was designed to operate for very long period of time with as little maintenance needed as possible. It had 8 antiaircraft pulse batteries, 4 infrared laser turrets and a squad of ASW helicopters, giving it a well-rounded defense against all forms of attacks. Its offensive capabilities are no pushover too, as it can detect and hit enemy positions hundreds of miles away, either with its VLS cruise missiles or with the assortment of 120 helicopters and airplanes that filled its hangar decks to the brim.

And now, its might will be witnessed in this battle.

"_Sunburn-01, standing by for vertical take-off."_ The pilot announced as he prepares his new fighter jet to launch out of the carrier.

Back when Line Ark was founded, they had the F-35B Lightning II as their primary fighter jet, but they've been rendered useless when Omer introduced Armored Cores capable of sustained flight. Not having the resources to maintain such machines at that time, the last nation was in need of fighter planes capable of going toe-to-toe against ACs in aerial combat.

And thus, the Advanced Dominance Fighter Program was created.

With Gründer Industries leading the project, the ADF Program have borne fruit with 3 aircraft that are considered as Sixth Generation Fighter Jets: The ADFX-01 Morgan, the ADF-01 Falken, and the ADF-11F Raven.

The Morgan, due to its sophisticated Electronic Warfare capabilities and the heavy weaponry outfitted to it, was often used to supplement friendlies in dogfights and ground attacks.

The Falken became Line Ark's primary multirole fighter plane, with many other variants of it created for more specialized tasks.

But out of the three, the Raven is lauded as the strongest and the most advanced of them all. Armed with dual pulse guns, missiles, a laser cannon and 2 AI-controlled armed UAVs, added with the capability of its cockpit to separate from the main body in case of emergency, the ADF-11F Raven truly is a one of a kind aircraft.

Sunburn-01, along with his squadmate Sunburn-02, are each piloting a VTOL variant of the ADF-11F called ADF-11FH Thunder Raven. Aside from the lift fans that granted the jet VTOL propulsion, the engines' thruster nozzles are outfitted with Thrust Vectoring technology, along with a Reaction Control System that are usually seen in spacecraft. With these modifications not usually seen in the original variant, the Thunder Raven became an extremely agile fighter plane that exceeded even the F-22 Raptor in making tight turns and complex maneuvers.

This special asset, combined with its powerful armaments, have made the ADF-11FH Thunder Raven into one of the most dangerous Sixth Generation Fighter Jets to ever grace the battlefield.

"_Sunburn-02, standing by."_

"_Sunburn-03, ready for takeoff."_

"_Subnurn-04, standing by for takeoff."_

"_Sunburn-05, on the catapult."_

"_Sunburn-06, standing by for launch."_

Sunburn Squad is composed of 12 aircraft, but all launch catapults are occupied, so Sunburn-07 to 12 have to wait in line to be deployed. Sunburn-03 through 08 are commandeering Falkens, while Sunburn-09 through 12 are piloting Morgans.

But they're not the only ones going to be sent to Outpost 5, as there would be 7 more fighter squads about to be deployed as well. Their objective is to take out enemy aircraft and AC and to keep anyone from escaping, while the _King Neptune_ eliminates most of the enemy forces with its cruise missiles.

Behind his helmet, Sunburn-01 is hoping that they weren't too late. But if they are, they'll make sure none of the League bastards aren't getting away with it in one piece.

"_Sunburn-01, taking off."_

* * *

_ **Back to Outpost 5, League's POV…** _

* * *

"_Lieutenant General, whatever you want to tell me, do so briefly. I have a meeting in one hour."_ A voice said through a private commlink.

Kim didn't beat around the bush, "Mr. Chairman, I'm requesting for a LYNX to aid us in this operation."

The chairman raised an eyebrow, _"And pray tell, what brings a necessity for you to have such a request?"_

"We just finished an engagement with Line Ark forces at one of their outposts. If there would be constant resistance like this along the way, I'm afraid we won't have enough forces to take out Line Ark's defense forces."

The chairman had a bored look to his face, _"You have airships and Arms Forts, aren't you? You better not worry about failure at all, since Line Ark is busy dealing with invaders from the inside. Besides, you destroyed the enemy outpost, so what gives?"_

Kim however wasn't too pleased. "Yeah, we got them alright. But guess how many of our forces they took out? _Fifteen percent_." he hissed with venom at his voice. "If a mere _outpost_ could dish out this much damage to the fleet, then we have to pull back and reconsider this invasion attempt. But we don't want that, do we? I don't care if you send in a low-ranking one, anything will do."

"_Don't take that tone with me, general."_ The chairman warned, his face turning into a scowl. _"I didn't pay you to slack off and make excuses for your incompetency. We don't have any LYNX to spare, so consider your request denied. We'll send in more Normals, but that'll be all."_

Kim grit his teeth and conceded, knowing that he'd lost the argument. "Understood, but don't blame me if-"

"Sir, incoming missiles, approaching fast!"

His eyes widened in alarm. "Shoot it down, now!"

"Loading antimissile ordinance in missile tubes 1 through 6, locking on to- Shit, they're Spread Missiles! Reacquiring loc-"

_ **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!** _

Explosions shook the entire Arms Fort as multiple missiles hit home, throwing some crewmembers off their stations and killing off those who are unlucky to be near the explosions.

Kim groaned as he tried to regain his bearings, and once he did, he yelled, "Damage report!"

"The HI-Laser cannon and missile launch tubes 3 to 5 are busted! The portside wing's clipped, but it won't hamper our flight!" an officer reported.

"Casualties?" Kim inquired, which was answered with "We've got 9 dead and 14 injured!"

"Who hit us?!" the Lieutenant General then demanded, but all he received from the radar officer is a stutter. Finally losing his patience, he yelled, "Are you deaf, officer? Who fired the damn missile!?"

"Oh my God… S-sir, it's White Glint, and he's got fighter squads with him!"

"_White Glint, here?! Shit, we done fucked up now…"_ was Kim's mortified thought before another missile alert was raised by the radar officer.

Suffice to say, karma had gone and rightfully kicked him in the behind.

* * *

_ **10 minutes ago, with White Glint…** _

* * *

"Hey, friendlies on the radar, and there's a whole lot of them." Alerted Fiona who, much to William's amusement, was sitting on his lap.

The pilot took a good look at the radar and frowned. If his estimations are correct, there's a hundred blips with friendly IFFs going at supersonic speed, very likely an entire Strike Wing deployed for combat since there's no scheduled combat exercises for this month.

But a deployment of such scale never happens, unless…

He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Fiona? Do you think…?" the woman's grim expression was all he needed as an answer.

The League had very likely found out about the incident back home, and capitalizing on the situation, decided to use this opportunity to finally destroy Line Ark.

Making up his mind, he tried to open comms using Line Ark's heavily-encrypted military communications network. "White Glint to nearby friendly forces, do you copy?"

Not long after, someone answered his hail, _"AWACS, designation Horus here. What is it, LYNX?"_

"Alright Horus, what're your deployment orders?"

"_Outpost 05 got attacked by an air fleet. The fighters are to engage hostile aircraft and box the enemy forces in, while the King Neptune's gonna hit the larger bogeys with cruise missiles."_

"Can I join in? I've got enough ammo and missiles to spare."

"_Sure deal, it'll make our jobs easier."_

"Okay then. White Glint, out." He looked at Fiona and said, "Babe, you better hang on tight. this will get real bumpy."

* * *

_ **Now…** _

* * *

"All missiles hit. Firing more rounds." William announced as White Glint's SALINE05 missile launchers fired 2 more spread missiles that finished off the flying Arms Fort, reducing it to nothing but burning husk as it fell down to the earth.

He contacted Horus once more, "White Glint to Horus, what's the ETA of the cruise missiles?"

"_Uh… 1 minute, 20 secs. Be careful not to get near when the missiles hit, they're thermobaric."_ Was the reply he got from the AWACS' operator.

He shot a round from his 051ANNR rifle and destroyed a helicopter. "Got it, Horus. 1 minute 'till the fireworks display." He then Quickboosted to the nearest cluster of aircraft and engaged his NEXT's Assault Armor, the resulting shockwave obliterating them to nothingness.

Fiona deadpanned at him, "You know you could just mow them down with the missiles, right?" he gave her a nonchalant shrug in response, "I'm conserving ammo. You'll never know when you need it."

"Touché." She rolled her eyes before he proceeded to go after another enemy group.

And one minute after the fighting, the League's remaining airships and Arms Forts on the combat zone were consumed by glowing balls of inferno thanks to the thermobaric cruise missiles.

William whistled in morbid fascination to the scenery that lay before him, "Well, I think that's the last of 'em. You guys can take care of the rest, right?"

"_Affirmative, you can return home now. Sorry for bothering you with this."_

"It's nothing, really. White Glint, returning to Homebase. Over and out."

* * *

_ **The next day, at Line Ark's National Defense Office…** _

* * *

"The president's here, now we can officially start the meeting." An official stated as a redheaded man on his mid-30s took a seat in the large and ornate circular table in the spacious room.

The president then spoke, "First order of business, the Sector 7 Incident. What do we know about the invaders?" the director of Line Ark's Internal Security and Intelligence Bureau spoke up.

"Well, from information we could squeeze out of the captured prisoners, they are affiliated to what was called the Saderan Empire. They speak a variation of Latin, but our linguists can still understand them despite the changes."

The president then inquired, "And what of the Gate?" the Minister of Scientific Development took his turn.

"Based on our observations, it's an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or a wormhole to be exact." Murmurs then rang out over the revelation, but they were quickly silenced by the president.

"How did they manage to pull it off? The processes needed to create one are outright impossible for our current technology to achieve!"

The minister leafed through some pages in his report before saying, "Um… this might sound very ridiculous, but from what we've learned from one Remus Tu Faluna…"

The president impatiently tapped his foot because of the minister's hesitation, "Minister, I want an answer..." he demanded.

The minister took a deep breath, and stated, "It was formed via magic and literal divine intervention, sir."

.

.

.

"You're… you're kidding me, right?" the president blankly stared at him, hoping that it was just a joke, but the minister's serious expression told him otherwise. "Oh my God, you actually aren't kidding."

Clearing his throat, the minister continued on, "Yes, magic does exist on the other side of the Gate. We had some theories about their origins and how they work, but we're positive that the thing they call magic can be scientifically replicated."

The president nodded, "That's good news." Whether he got giddy at the prospect of magic-wielding soldiers, he didn't show it. "And of the Gate? Is it possible to move from the highway?"

Another minister spoke, "It can be done, but we recommend that we don't move it from its position. We're afraid that a single mistake once we try to displace the Gate could lead to catastrophic consequences."

"How bad are we talking about?"

"The nuclear explosion-kind of bad."

Silence reigned to the room for a few seconds before the president stated, "Anyway, I was considering sending an exploration force through the other side, but we have to make sure the League won't get any more intel from us, like the invasion attempt they did just yesterday. So," he turned to the ISIB director.

"Director, I'm granting you full access to all of Line Ark's resources. I want you to identify spies and informants within our ranks. You have two weeks."

"But, sir-" the president's glare silenced him. "Two weeks! You have everything that you'll need for the investigation, now get out of here and find our spies!"

The director stuttered a bit before bowing down and leaving. the president cleared his throat and continued on like nothing happened.

"Moving on to the next issue…"


	4. Into The New World

“… And this concludes our meeting. Dismissed.” The president declared as most of the attendants started to leave one by one, until he and his aides are the only ones left in the conference room.

After giving his order to the ISIB’s director to locate the League spies within their ranks, he’d discussed various measures and projects with the other ministries, departments and bureaus with regarding the current issue they’re tackling to resolve.

The Gate is an opportunity they can’t ignore. More resources to sustain their people’s needs, additional living space to solve their overcrowding issues, a chance to escape this hellhole they called planet Earth, and many new avenues for scientific discoveries. The possibilities are absolutely endless!

However, the possibility of an information leak remain present. If any outsiders finds out about the Gate (especially the League), they will pressure the last nation to give up the Gate to them.

That is very unacceptable to him, and so they must consolidate their military defenses first and make sure that they can fend off an invasion force even without White Glint. Hopefully the ISIB would finally work their asses off and do their jobs for once.

He frowned at that notion. Everyone became too dependent on NEXTs in both offense and defense, and Line Ark itself is not an exception. Sure, they had far better equipment and military assets compared to the rest of the world, but that could only get them so far against the immense numbers and industrial might of the League of Ruling Companies.

The military’s hard-working R&D Department had a handful of new and interesting projects that are already past testing phase and currently pending for a go signal at mass production, but with the current economic situation they are in, they can only approve 3, maybe 4 projects simultaneously. And even then, it will take weeks, maybe even months, before any one of those projects could be deployed on the field.

Moving on to the issue of immigration, he along with the ministers and department heads have a general agreement that colonizing the other side of the Gate would be the best option to solve the economic and social crisis they’re currently facing. But since it’s very likely that no one would want to stay in this dying planet, and add the fact that there’s no guarantee that the Gate would remain stable for a long time, any attempts of colonization- no, exodus- to the other side of the Gate should be done in a quick yet organized manner.

He already ordered various departments to collaborate and create a comprehensive plan to achieve it, but it would take more than 3 to 4 weeks before it could be finished.

Speaking of people, an estimated half a thousand civilians were confirmed to have been abducted by the savage Roman wannabes. If the word they got from the prisoners are true, it’ll only be a matter of time before the taken civilians would get sold as slaves, which would further exacerbate any chances of rescue.

As much as he wanted to send in an entire Land Battleship group to the Gate, transferring troops larger than a ground carrier to the other side wouldn’t be possible unless they’d be dismantled first before getting shipped through, which means the initial forces at most would be composed of infantry and ground vehicles only. They’d have to make due with their assault vehicles and mobile artillery platforms for fire support roles in place of their frontline MTs.

_“Then there’s also those creatures that came with the invaders… I bet the biologists are having a field day…”_ he added to himself.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when his phone rang. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as the phone says ‘Unidentified Caller’.

_“That’s strange, only a select few knows how to directly contact me…”_ Nevertheless, he still answered the phone call.

“Who’s this?”

“…”

“Yes, this is President Robinson. Who are you and what do you want?”

“…”

“… Huh? What are you-”

“…”

“Son of a- where did you get that information?!”

“…”

“Damn you… are you working for the League bastards? Liliana? The Maghrib remnants?”

“…” “Fine, but I’m still not trusting you.”

“…”

“An offer I can’t refuse? What do you mean by that?”

“…”

“… Very well, I’m listening.”

* * *

** _Meanwhile, in Falmart… _ **

* * *

“Your Majesty, I have come with ill tidings from the conquest attempt from the Gate by the Inland Sea!”

“Where is Duke Pyrrhus? Shouldn’t he be the one to report to me?”

“The conquest ended in a catastrophic failure. Out of 5 Legions, only 2 have returned. Lord Pyrrhus was killed mere minutes after he crossed the Gate. I’m currently the highest ranking official of the remaining invasion force.”

The senate suddenly went to a clamor from the soldier’s statement. They just received news of the failure at the Gate on Alnus Hill, and now this?

But before the commotion escalates, the emperor immediately silenced them down. “Tell me everything.” He demanded.

“The Gate have led us to a majestic kingdom over the sea. Massive structures made out of steel, glass, and smoothened stone are all around us. However, the barbarians strangely had a paltry amount of militia forces guarding the city. Due to the lack of security, we were able to secure 500 slaves.”

“If that is the case, then why did you lose?”

“Magic, your Majesty! The blasted savages used magic against our legions!” Molt raised an eyebrow. “Magic, you say?”

“All of their soldiers held staves that spew thundering bolts of flame that killed out men in a blink of an eye! Not only that, they also have war beasts made of iron and gigantic golems that uses the same magic their soldiers use!”

_“Staves that cast projectiles at high speeds, and beasts made of iron… Just like the reports at the other conquest at Alnus Hill…”_ Emperor Molt scratched his beard in deep thought. _“This is a very troubling coincidence…” _

Molt’s son, Zorzal El Caesar, suddenly spoke up. “Those cowards! Relying on magic instead of facing our forces head-on!” he turned to the emperor. “Father, allow me to-“

Molt rebuked his own son before he could speak any further, “No, you are not going anywhere.”

“But father-“

“Be silent. Need I remind you of the disastrous campaign you’ve led against the Warrior Bunnies?” Zorzal tried to find a reply, but he couldn’t find any. Assured that his foolish son wouldn’t undermine his authority for the rest of the session, the emperor turned back to the reporting soldier.

“How does the surviving legions fare?”

“We’ve proceeded in encircling the Gate with as many emplacements as we could build. We‘ve also positioned archers and our siege weapons just behind the fortifications, and the auxiliary units will be acting as our meat shields for the remaining forces that will be on the front.”

“Good. Return to your men, I shall have a legion accompany you as reinforcements.”

“Understood, your Majesty.” The man then left.

“Your Majesty, are you sure this is wise?” Molt’s aide asked him.

The emperor looked at him. “Well, if our legions fail, there’s always the vassal states to send in. And if the vassal armies are destroyed, we will deprive our enemies of supplies they could take from our cities and villages by burning the farmlands and salting the ground.”

“Scorched Earth tactics? But sir, our economy might collapse if we do so!”

“We will worry about that later. But for now, we do what we can for our Empire to survive.”

* * *

** _ Two Weeks Later, with Remus…_ **

* * *

“Come on. It’s time.” Remus snapped out of his musings as a hand nudged him by the shoulder. Making a quick count on bullets of the pistol they gave him (a Chiappa Rhino, to be exact), he nodded in satisfaction as he counted 6 bullets loaded into it.

“Aim down the sights, go for the center mass, pull the trigger. Reload after 6 shots.” He memorized to himself before he holstered the gun to his bandolier and drew his Gladius next, sheathing it back after making a brief inspection over the blade for any noticeable defects.

Instead of his standard issue armor and tunic, he’s wearing a plain gray Battle Dress Uniform complete with a helmet and plate carrier, offering him a mediocre amount of protection that pales in comparison to his captors’ Tactical Light Infantry Exoskeletons.

And as for the gun, he was only taught the basics and spent a day on the shooting range. His skills with a pistol is a bit crappy, but they still allowed him to carry one just in case he needed the firepower to defend himself.

Following the soldier ahead of him, they climbed up in the roof of the APC they’re assigned to. As the vehicle approached the Gate, the young mage turned soldier reminisced on what happened to him this past 2 weeks.

Shortly after he was caught, they shipped him to the nearest medical facility and healed his injury by setting the bones and injecting a healthy dose of nanobots, which immediately healed his injury within hours. He was discharged a couple days later and spent 3 days being interrogated by ISIB agents, then 2 days demonstrating spells for their scientists to analyze. And after that, he was handed over to one of their soldiers to keep him under surveillance.

He got lucky compared to the other prisoners who are imprisoned in POW camps, as he still can go around as long as his handler’s with him.

Oh, and did he forgot to mention that said handler is the very same officer that caught him?

Yeah, the Colonel. At least she’s nice enough to help him in his studies when he decided to hit the library. Translating the books had been a hassle, but the knowledge he gained was very _enlightening_.

This world the Saderan Empire attempted to conquer, contrary to the other worlds the Gate have lead through in the past, is a world devoid of divinity and magic. In order to make up for such absence, the inhabitants of this world took a different path in advancing their society, which in turn made their technology and scientific knowledge centuries ahead of what even the mages and researchers of Rondel have achieved.

That made him wonder, is the presence of magic and gods the primary reason why their technology and scientific understanding have remained stagnant for so long? It’s a heretical thought, but one that makes some sense.

His handler leaning towards him, she asked, “Nervous?” he shook his head. “I rather feel sorry for the Imperial soldiers instead of feeling anxiety.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you an Imperial soldier yourself?” He scoffed, his expression looking amused from what she said. “I only joined for the thrill of battle, not out of loyalty.” She blinked at his answer, but said nothing else.

The vehicle passing through the structure, they were shrouded in pitch black. Eerie darkness surrounded them, but they can see the other side ahead. And once they passed through, they were met with a majestic sight.

The Gate is somehow positioned inland near a beach, with _trees_ dotting the surroundings and the _clear blue_ sea stretching to the horizon, an army charging towards them and-

_Wait, what? _

“Dismount, now! Go, go, go!” a soldier shouted as the expeditionary force moved in to battle positions. Armored vehicles took the front, engineers hastily set up crew-manned heavy weapons and barricades, soldiers carrying man-portable mortars preparing to pepper enemy positions with artillery firepower, and soldiers aiming their weapons to the large mass of enemies surrounding them, their fingers itching to pull the trigger.

“This won’t end well.” The mage turned soldier remarked as he readied himself to cast a defensive barrier just in case the Saderans unleash an arrow barrage. “Not for us, at least.”

As the army approaches, they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

“OPEN FIRE!”

And all hell broke loose.

* * *

**[Message from: Office of the President] **

**[To: Director Artliffe, Military Research & Development Department] **

I have taken consideration over the following military proposals that your department have sent:

**Aerial Arsenal Ship Project** (Approved, 3 units will be produced. See attached file for details.)

**Zone of Endless Program** (Approved for limited deployment and data gathering. See attached file for details.)

**Project: Vampire** (Approved for limited production. See attached file for details.)

**Project: Alicorn** (On Hold from active deployment. Will be considered as backup in the scenario LSW King Neptune is destroyed. See attached file for details.)

**Codename: Stonehenge** (Denied)

**Project: Excalibur** (Denied)

**P-111x Series Airships** (Denied)

**Project AMIDA** (Denied with vehemence)


	5. What if The Gate Appeared In... an Omake

* * *

** _Old Yharnam (Bloodborne)_ **

* * *

"Oi, Djura! Am I finally getting crazy, or there really is a stone archway that appeared outta nowhere?"

"Huh? What are you-" Djura's eyes widened as he saw the Gate appear in a road within sight. "What is that? That was never there before."

"Yeah, same here. A strange occurrence, am I right?" his companion that people called the Good Hunter, armed with a Church Cannon and a Threaded Cane, commented as he prepared his weapons just in case something dangerous happens.

What's even stranger are that the nearby beasts nearby are beginning to scamper away from the Gate, as if trying to get away from danger. And this didn't go away unnoticed to the two and served to alarm them even more.

The Good Hunter said to the retired man, "You might wanna get to your Gatling gun, old man. Something bad's probably coming out of that thing." Djura then replied as he aimed the mounted automatic weapon to the Gate's direction, "Way ahead of you, boy."

The Empire's army came through, and two men went to a Hunt.

_ **One Hour Later… ** _

The two stopped firing their ranged weapons and watched in morbid fascination to the scenery.

The entire street was painted red by the resulting battle, chunks of gore and viscera lay strewn all over the place. Blood flowed down the sewerage, and the stench of death wafted all around them.

"Damn, now that's a literal bloodbath."

"Aye."

After staring at their macabre masterpiece for a full minute, the Good Hunter asked, "So… you got some Molotovs to burn the bodies?"

"…"

The Good Hunter sighed, "I guess not. Stay here and keep watch over that thing, I'll bring Flamesprayer and some of my friends to help out in cleaning this mess."

"Just make sure they wouldn't hurt the beasts around here. Remember, these beasts-"

"-used to be people, I know. Stay safe, old man!" As the Good Hunter walked away however, there's still one mystery that never stopped befuddling him ever since he met the retired Hunter.

_"Just where is Djura keeping all that ammo for his Gatling gun?"_

* * *

** _SCP-2217 (SCP Foundation Mythos)_ **

* * *

"Your Holiness, there's an anomaly that appeared on The Anvil!"

Robert Bumaro inquired. "Have you made an analysis over it?"

"Yes, your Holiness, and it seemed to be magical in nature! And based on its appearance, it might be a space-time gateway of some sort!"

The Builder of The Broken God narrowed his eyes upon the mention of 'gateway' and called upon his followers. "All of you, with me! We will come and investigate this matter!"

_ "This better not be the start of our second war against the Sarkics. We are too unprepared to deal with them with our current state, allies or none…"_ he added to himself as his group of 600 armed men marched forth.

Later…

"What the- is that an Orc?! And a dragon?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MEKHANE IS GOING ON?!" a newly-instated member of the Church looked on to the Saderan Imperial army in shock.

"Doesn't matter, we will wipe out the intruders for desecrating our Holy Site!" one of the more zealous acolytes cried out.

Bumaro then interjected, "Now, now, let us all be reasonable. At least we should try and see if they've come with peaceful intenti-" an arrow suddenly whizzed by, narrowly missing his head.

"-Or we could just simply engage the enemies and capture some prisoners while we're at it…" he sighed in exasperation and then muttered, "Well, it can't be helped…"

He then barked, "Those with ranged weapons, lay down fire on the enemy! Melee combatants, keep the enemy away from our shooters! Anyone who had a communication device, contact Hedwig and Trunnion! Have their forces rendezvous in our position! MOVE!"

"You heard his Holiness! TO ARMS!"

The servants of Mekhane went in to attack, and attack they did. Few in numbers they may be, but the individual firepower they've brought made up for it. Fusion rifles, Coilguns, energy blades, heavy automatic weapons, and many other esoteric technology were utilized by the followers of Mekhane, allowing them to tear through the enemy lines with ease.

And it just got worse when the militant wings of the Cogwork Orthodoxy and the Church of Maxwellism have all joined into the fray.

Cyborgs with clockwork augmentations burned down and hacked through soldiers and demihumans, while an innumerable amount of combat drones deployed by the Maxwellists have filled the skies and engaged in aerial combat against the dragons.

Shortly after the battle- no, massacre, that lasted a mere few minutes, the Church of The Broken God have set up a perimeter and made further analysis on the Gate. And after concluding that it had nothing to do with Mekhane, they contacted their allies and held a meeting.

The Foundation wanted to relocate the Gate to one of their sites and study it.

The Global Occult Coalition wanted to dismantle it, and so is the Horizon Initiative.

Marshall, Carter & Dark Ltd. somehow managed to butt in and expressed their interest in acquiring the Gate and selling it to the highest bidder.

They argued for hours, but they eventually went to an agreement. Just another day in a universe full of anomalies.

* * *

** _ The Void Where The Author Resides…_ **

* * *

"Dafuq? A Gate in here?" I looked to my left as the Gate materialized, interrupting my leisurely writing of _**"What if The Gate Appeared In…"**_.

I looked to my screen. Then back to the Gate.

"Huh, maybe I should…" I typed in, _"The Gate then vanished and was sent to a random universe." _

And lo and behold, the thing vanished!

I was gonna continue writing, but…

What are you looking at? Go on, nothing to see here. I'm just a normal teenage writer.

* * *

_ **Somewhere in Nevada… (Madness Combat)** _

* * *

The Imperial army came in, expecting a world full of riches and savages. However, before them lay a desolate landscape, cracks and holes dotting the red sky as if it was a ceiling, emitting lightning that marred the desert sands below.

It was all, wrong…

The geometries, the atmosphere, the world itself, it's all WRONG! Something at the back of their minds tell them that everything they see in this world shouldn't even exist in the first place!

And boy, they were right…

"Huh, who is that over there?"

And to think, that the first being they'd meet…

H̶͙͋e̷̬̿l̶̢̃l̵̫̈́o̴̞̽ ̶̥̐t̴̠̓h̸̑͜e̸̜̿r̶̩̋e̵̜͊!̸͔́

… Is a zombified psycho clown that made reality itself his bitch.

"Kill it! Kill that abomination!"

Y̸̧̒ö̷̯́ù̸̫ ̵͉͐ď̸̳ö̶͍́n̴̦͘'̶̺͐ẗ̶͈́ ̶̩͝k̴̫͝ĭ̷̲l̴̖͆l̷̼̄ ̸͍͒t̸͋͜ḧ̷̜́e̵͎̽ ̷̰̄c̷̙̾l̸͕̾o̷͚̒w̴̺̓n̴̩̍!̸̭̒!̸͙͐! ̶͈̓

"Watch ou- Gurghk!"

"No, stay away from me! Somebody, help!"

They begged their gods for salvation, only to receive more despair…

For this is a world where Madness ruled over all.

̵͖̎C̵̫͆ĺ̶̮o̴̬͐w̶̰̿n̸̙̅ ̸͉̾k̴͍͑i̷̠͘l̷̖̎ĺ̸͉s̶̭̾ ̵͓̒y̸̛͈ǒ̶͙u̴̻͂!̴̜̇!̸̲̕!̵̦̍


	6. Setting a Foothold

Explosions, gunfire and screams of death rang all over the Imperial camp as the spearhead sent by Line Ark had begun to systematically eliminate any opposition and clear the way for the main force behind them. The Imperial soldiers tried to fight with all their might, tried every tactic in their military doctrine, used every magic spells their mages could cast, but it still wasn't enough and they were yet to inflict heavy casualties to the technologically superior force.

Gauss weaponry tore through the finest armor and shields the primitive soldiers have like they're nothing but paper, missiles and anti-air fire shot down incoming dragons attempting to counterattack, and artillery of varying calibers constantly pounded at clustered enemy positions and structures.

This is no battle, but a one-sided slaughter, the remaining Imperial officers realized. They stand no chance against their adversaries, and so they must retreat if they wish to live. However, the expeditionary force's MO for this campaign is to take no prisoners, and leave no survivors behind. Civilians affiliated to the Saderan Empire would be treated as a potential enemy, and will be given a chance to surrender and cede to Line Ark's authority. They can refuse, but if they do…

Potential enemies are to be eliminated with extreme and outmost prejudice.

If all of this happened decades ago when nations are still prominent, human rights advocates would surely balk at the idea of killing noncombatants in a war, as it is forbidden by international law and conventions of war. However, that was decades ago, and the maritime city-state had too many enemies and little to no allies. It'd be better to preemptively eliminate possible belligerents before they become active combatants and impede war efforts in the future. They already have too much problems at their hands, and openly carrying out humanitarian operations would be a waste of money and resources they could barely afford.

Besides, if they had any laws regarding human rights, it only applies to their own citizens. They are that paranoid, but paranoia had led them to come this far.

Bit by bit, the Saderans were losing ground. Corpses lay scattered all over the beach, the blood of those who were slain drenching the sands. What little pockets of resistance left are being outflanked and systematically eliminated, with those who tried to retreat either succeeding in their escape or getting themselves shot in the back.

In the end, just as the main bulk of the expeditionary force arrived, the spearhead had wiped out nearly 3 legions' worth of primitive soldiers, all within 2 hours of fighting.

Remus, winded from casting defensive spells and the occasional counterattacks against his fellow mages, let out a sigh of relief as he along with the squadron he's assigned to are relieved from combat by the incoming reinforcements. Regrouping with his handler, he handed the revolver to the colonel.

She didn't take it. "Keep it. Who knows when that thing comes in handy." Was what she said to him. And since she insisted it, he only shrugged and holstered the gun. He'll ask her to teach him how to maintain a gun later. The mud and blood that caked the revolver's frame might break its mechanisms if he doesn't know how to.

He then remembered, "I brought a couple of books to translate. Would you mind helping me out?"

"Sure, but we've gotta get debriefed first. Now come on!"

* * *

6 hours after the battle at the Gate, the temporary base's key structures and functions were already set up. In a few months from now, civilian housing and key government facilities are most likely finished at that point, furthering Line Ark's agenda of establishing a colony in the new world. It's unsettlingly fast, but that's to be expected with Line Ark's technological advancements that allowed faster and more convenient construction methods.

But that could only be done if Line Ark gain absolute dominance in the particular area they're planning to expand on. Thus, after eliminating the nearby local military forces, reconnaissance and information gathering is the next step to their plans to consolidate their military presence better.

Diplomacy with local kingdoms would depend on their stance against the Saderan Empire. If they loathe the Empire, they're possible allies (or assets to be manipulated). If neutral, leave them alone, maybe even trade with them. If they're a vassal state however, then it's most likely going to be open hostilities.

Speaking of reconnaissance, most of information-gathering work will involve a fleet of unmanned deep reconnaissance aircraft, designed with long-ranged flight and hyper-advanced monitoring/scanning capabilities in mind. The recon planes will transmit live images and various types of scans to nearby AWACS, who in turn will receive and manage the data sent by the planes and transmit the gathered intel to a network of mobile command vehicles travelling outwards of Line Ark's sphere of influence, who will then extrapolate the compiled information into a comprehensive database that could be used by High Command to plan out their next move.

There were proposals of launching satellites from some officials, but Line Ark's space agency had been defunct for more than a decade since the launching of the Assault Cells on 2063. Most of the aforementioned agency's employers and chief engineers have either retired or have taken a different profession, so building even a single-stage rocket is a moot point.

Thus, intel has to be gathered the classical way.

The first batch of the planes going to be used are to be delivered first thing in the morning. For now, they wait.

* * *

"Oh, so channeling electricity through metals with good conductivity can induce a magnetic field?"

"Yes, and that same concept is applied on our weapons. Back then, bullets were propelled by small amounts of explosive chemicals, and the-"

"Yeah, I know. The heat, rapid gas expansion and the force from the 'miniature explosion' forced the bullet to propel out of the barrel's length. You taught me earlier about heat physics."

She rolled her eyes, "Well good for you, mister. And it's Thermodynamics, not heat physics." She peered at the window and saw that the moon is high up in the sky. "Damn, we overdid it again. Let's wrap this up and call it a night, okay? I'll explain more about electromagnets tomorrow, if I've got free time."

"Uh, sure. Good night, Colonel." The captured mage/dragon rider answered as he fumbled with the notes he'd written in a notebook they gave him, the pages filled with information, illustrations, sticky notes containing addenda of different topics, scrawls of his insights and ideas, and many more things relevant to his new interest: The practical application of advanced physics and chemistry to magic, particularly to combat-oriented spells.

She smiled to him, "None of that Colonel crap, you can only call me that if we're on the field, okay?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, sorry. Good night… Zenna." she gave a hum of approval before climbing up the bunk bed and sleep. After skimming through the notes he'd written for today and confirming that he didn't miss anything, he got up from the desk and crashed to the lower bunk.

His studies have borne fruit. He figured how to enhance his offensive spells' efficiency with the help of his knowledge about basic chemical reactions and Newton's laws of physics, a simple levitation spell could become lethal when applying enough centripetal and centrifugal forces, and his defensive magic got even more effective by adding a strong yet contained layer of wind that can withstand arrows, small-caliber pistol fire, and shrapnel.

And if his theory from today's lesson is correct, adding a strong enough electromagnetic field could strengthen his defenses even further to the point that he might even take a direct hit from an infantry-held rocket launcher and shrug it off! He only needed to learn more about the topic in question, and he's gonna be walking under heavy fire unharmed like there's nothing but a breeze!

Oh, where had all this knowledge been when he's still studying at Rondel? It's not that he didn't like studying there, but the lessons are damn boring! And now it turns out that more than half of what they taught him are inaccurate and wrong!

"Sheesh, it really is a good thing that I left that stupid place." Was his last thought as he felt his eyelids grow heavy before he eventually succumbed to a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

**[Message from: Director Artliffe, Military Research and Development Department]**

** [Message to: Minister of National Defense]**

I am requesting a revision to the Zone of Endless Project's scope and limitations. Below are the requested units to be included to the project:

/\/\/\/\/\/\

00-Aretha NEXT (1)

002-B NEXT (2)

Goppert-G3 (3)

Type-Dulake (3)

044AC (3)

047AC-F (2)

GA03-Solarwind (3)

Aerial Arsenal Ship "Equity"

Project: Vampire (2 primary units, 16 secondary units)

GAP90-Noshield NBC Power Armor (120)

GAM4-Wildboar MBT (20)

UB-Hymenoptera Light Attack Rotary Wing Drone (40)

043AF20 Attack Helicopter (10)

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Also, with the latest geographical survey stating that the Gate is situated nearby a sea, I am proposing that Project: Alicorn would have another iteration in Falmart. The construction costs shouldn't be a problem, as the Neo Illuminati was willing to shoulder at least 45% of the total construction costs. However, constructions could only be held once the dock's finished, which might occur around this month.

I implore you to consider my request well and that you would allow them to be. My propositions are going to contribute to our nation's best interests, I can assure you that.

That'll be all.

* * *

** [Message from: Minister of National Defense]**

** [Message to: Director Artliffe, Military Research and Development Department] **

After much consideration given, we of the Ministry of National Defense have approved of your first proposal concerning the Zone of Endless Program.

About Project: Alicorn, you are not the first person to make that proposal, as there are at least 7 similar proposals sent to us for the last week.

We have thought about the possibility of constructing a second Alicorn-Class Submersible Aviation Cruiser, and already planned a schedule and timetable once the dock is finished. General Resources ltd. have also expressed their willingness in helping out in some parts of the construction for free, which will further ease out the potential costs of constructing a second Alicorn-Class SAC up to 53%.

The only thing left is the President's approval for the construction to actually happen. A request has been forwarded to his office and will most likely be approved soon around this week. We'd be able to start building the second SAC by this month and finish it in 2 weeks once we receive the President's green light with the matter at hand.

Have a good day, Director.

* * *

The next day, early in the morning, a convoy of ground carrier vehicles were passing through the Gate. Along with them are the mobile command vehicles, transferred to Falmart for a specific reason.

These transports are carrying the planes about to be used in the upcoming reconnaissance operation. Recon craft, drones, modified bomber planes, tankers, AWACS, planes of assorted types are within the large containers that made up the ground carriers' bulk.

The convoy is also escorted by other ground vehicles partaking in the op as escorts for the mobile command vehicles. There are tanks, IMVs, APCs, mobile anti-air platforms, transport trucks, supply trucks, and many more.

One of the ground carriers however, unlike the many others with it, is carrying a "special package".

A hint? The planes within this specific transport are painted in crimson.


	7. The Calm

No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. That applies to every situation in war, regardless of any overwhelming advantage you may have. And this is further proven with the JSDF's counterattack to the other side of the Gate, which will serve as the beginning of their campaign against the Saderan Empire.

It goes without saying, the operation did not go as expected. The Imperial army had taken the few weeks of respite to prepare and set up fortifications around the Gate's entrance, and they had dozens of catapults, Ballistas, archers and mages aimed at the Gate, ready to fire at the moment someone or something comes through.

The assaulting force had a couple dozen injured in the opening of the battle, with about eight dead through an enemy saturation attack. Thankfully, their main battle tanks were the first to come in and took care of the brunt of the enemy force, or else the casualty count would've been much higher.

If it did, it'll be a massive PR nightmare that the JSDF wouldn't be able to easily recover from.

"_If it weren't for those anti-war politicians to bicker and stall for time over the Gate issue, these guys wouldn't have the time to get ready against us… damn it!"_ The Hero of Ginza thought to himself, irked at the incompetency of certain individuals seated at the government to no end. "What a mess…"

"Hey LT, you okay?" Itami looked at his fellow soldier (and weeb/otaku, whatever you guys consider them as) Takeo Kurata, who is currently looking at him with concern.

He then replied to the earlier question, "Yeah, it's just… They never displayed this much tactics back at Ginza, did they? Although, it's probably a more competent general that took over, I can't brush away the feeling that something riled up these guys, and it's most likely coming from whatever came out of the other Gate at the Inland Sea."

The Inland Sea… according to the maps of Falmart that they've procured, it is a large body of water reminiscent to Earth's Dead Sea. And from what information they've gleaned from the POWs of the recent battle, whoever came from the other Gate are militarily and technologically superior, if not an equal compared to modernized Japan.

The thought of a bigger fish existing out there in the ocean bowl that is Falmart is very worrying, indeed; even more so in the scenario that the other invaders haven't come to this world with benevolent intentions in mind…

Kurata gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it, LT! I'm pretty sure the SDF can take on what this world throws at us!" Although it wasn't much, the reassurance seemed to ease Itami's worries. "I hope you're right." Taking notice to the man's behaviour, he then inquired, "You seem cheerful today. Why's that, Sergeant?"

The lower-ranking soldier scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment, "Ah, well… I've been thinking, this is a fantasy world where elves and dragons exist, so maybe catgirls exist here?" Itami owlishly blinked at that for a second before replying, "Maybe, I guess? They're cute in anime, but catgirls aren't really my thing."

He turned and walked back to the base under construction. "Come on, let's join up with the others and regroup! I was planning to binge watch some anime for tonight, so hurry!"

"Righto, Lieutenant!"

* * *

At the newly-christened military base set up by Line Ark, lined with civilian buildings and public infrastructures yet to be completed, aircraft of different shapes and sizes are taking off by the hundreds. And the event is not only occurring in the sky, as various ground vehicles and mech units are also rolling out to their objectives.

The massive recon op is happening today, with nearly ten thousand personnel participating. However, the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment weren't included, as they were relegated on patrol duty at that time. And so, there they are, busy policing the outlying area of the base, they were bored like hell.

However, there is a certain Falmartian that wasn't as blasé as the others, and he is busy reading a translated book about advanced physics. Studying is not really his thing, but he still does so because he wanted to apply the knowledge he gained from modern science to perfect his skills in thaumaturgical combat.

"Hmm… Is it possible to imitate this 'particle accelerator' using magic? It must be…" he wondered out loud, making bodies ramrod straight as a statue and heads turning around to look at him, as if he'd grown another head. Remus noticed this and was like a deer caught in the headlights. "What?"

Zenna deadpanned at him, "You're going to replicate a particle accelerator… using magic…?" she asked slowly.

Not knowing the reason why they're a bit shocked, he asked her back. "Why, what's wrong with that? I'm just musing if it is possible. I can tell that it would be very complex, but-"

** _SMACK!_ **

"Ow…" he groaned, rubbing his head as Zenna began to chide him after that punch to his cranium. "Definitely out of the question! Are you even aware of how risky it is to use them? VERY! RISKY!"

"But-" She shut him up with a finger to the lips.

"Shush! Remember what you've learned about antimatter?" she waited for Remus' nod of affirmation before continuing, "If you do, then how was antimatter created?"

"Uhh… through a particle accelerat-oh." realization dawned on him, then embarrassment. "Right. My mistake."

She hummed in approval, "You get it now? One mistake is all that it'd take, then bam!" she slammed her palms together. "A violent explosion vaporizes you, and that's worse than getting your head blown to bits! Nothing will be left you. None, _non_, _nichts_, _zilch_, _nada_, you're gone! Down to the last atom!" Remus winced at everything she said. Wow, she's really not one to mince with words, he could tell.

Remus raised his hands defensively, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I won't try to utilize particle physics in magic without proper supervision ever again, I promise."

She squinted her eyes at him with suspicion before she humphed in satisfaction, "Good! Let's continue with the patrol!" and she went on like nothing happened.

Remus shook his head in exasperation. "She really is something, isn't she?" he commented to one of the soldiers alongside him.

The man shrugged, "Meh, that's the Colonel for ya. One of the big reasons why she quickly rose up the ranks within four years is because she had a track record of zero casualties in her entire career. No one dies in her watch, and that's why we respect her."

"Really?" the mage asked, amazed at her feats of military leadership. He himself was a military officer when he's still serving the Empire, but there are always casualties among his men in nearly every battle he'd partaken in. And with this fact, Remus always distanced himself and maintained a professional attitude towards his fellow soldiers, only socializing when necessary and never making friends.

To think that there's someone like her, an officer with such skill that her command had suffered zero losses through every battle, even when defeated, is very awe-inspiring and one to make an example out of.

* * *

_ **Meanwhile, at the Imperial capital…** _

* * *

"This is unacceptable! We have been getting nothing but defeats against the barbarians from both Gates!"

"Damn incompetent generals, we better ought to replace them with better ones, lest we lose our empire against our enemies!"

"What do we do? That's more than three quarters of our entire military might decimated by the forces from the other two worlds!"

"We might have to lower the age of conscription if we want to-"

"Definitely out of the question! We cannot risk a revolt right in our capital's backyard!"

While the senators are busy bickering with each other, Molt is having a growing migraine. _"The generals are incompetent, you say? I believe half of the nobility are the ones incompetent, not the generals."_ he snarked to himself before he let out an inaudible sigh. _"I'm getting too old for this shit."_

By the Gods above (and below), he really needed to abdicate the throne and pass it over to one of his children soon! And that's where the problem lies, since he can only think of three best candidates for the throne, and all of them aren't ready enough.

Zorzal is too prideful, always looking down upon others. Believing that the Empire is infallible, his arrogance and hubris knows no bounds. However, he had the most supporters among the nobility and the Senate.

Diabo is intelligent and has the makings of a good leader, but he is far too pragmatic, and that could stab him in the back in the future.

Pina… she had the potential to become a great empress someday, but her inexperience and lack of supporters could hold her back from leading effectively.

He'd rather not have Zorzal as the next emperor, but the odds are in his favour. Molt fears of the Empire's future if his wayward son indeed had become its ruler.

Diabo could do, but the young man had his own agendas in mind, ones that conflict with the current emperor's plans.

That leaves Pina as the most suitable successor. But as mentioned earlier, she lacks the-

"_Ah! __Maybe that's what she needed right now,"_ Molt realized. _"This crisis we're facing could be an opportunity for her."_

Clearing his throat, he interrupted the ongoing session. "We've had enough talk for today. This session is dismissed." he declared. A few minutes has passed, and all officials are gone, Molt called to one of his servants. "Bring Pina to me. There is something of great importance that we must discuss." The servant only bowed and left to do his duty.

His favoured daughter might be inexperienced and lacking in prestige, but with a war in two fronts near the capital's door, she'll be sure to get lots of it. Her life will be at risk, but that's what she and her knights have trained for. Besides, at most her tasks he'd entrust to her aren't beyond the scope of her abilities.

At best, she'd be investigating and gather information to either one of the two enemy factions, and act accordingly with the resources at her disposal. At worst, she'll be defending any allied towns and cities against brigands; he is very sure that with what happened to the expeditions, many soldiers that took part had defected, and it is obvious that they will begin plundering the very citizens they've sworn to protect.

As he waits alone in his throne, all he could do now is to hope that she lives through all this.

* * *

_ **Back at Line Ark…** _

* * *

President Robinson received a phone call. Looking at the ID, it says "M.X.T.H."

"_It's that guy again," _he thought to himself. _"Is he making his move now?"_ he shook his head and concluded, _"Might as well answer to find out."_ before answering the call.

"It's me. What do you want?"

"…"

"You're gonna start the rebellion? When?"

"…"

"Two months from now, got it. Anything else?"

"…"

"Wait, what? You want some of your forces to assist on the other side? How many are they?"

"…"

"Uh-uh… Some MTs could help."

"…"

"Wait, you're sending Armored Cores, too?"

"…"

"WHAT?! AN ENTIRE ARMS FORT?! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN GOING TO-"

"…"

"AND A GODDAMN LYNX?!"

"…"

"Hold on, not that I'm complaining about it, but you haven't answered my question about the AF you're sending!"

"…"

"O-oh, you're gonna build them on the other side with your own resources? But we don't have a factory to-"

"…"

"Ah, alright. We can allocate a space for you, but paperwork's gonna be a bitch and a half. I have a country to manage, you know."

"…"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll get the schematics for our military projects tomorrow."

"…"

"Okay, bye. Good luck with the Closed Plan... Thermidor."


	8. First Contact

"That's probably 20,000 men they've sent to the meat grinder, if my estimates were right." Remus commented as he and some members of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion are watching dead bodies systematically disposed of by modern machinery. "They never learn, do they?"

"Yeah…" Zenna solemnly shook her head. "Indeed they haven't."

Where did the bodies come from, you ask? The thing is, the Empire had decided to "request some help" from their vassal states in order to, quote unquote, "drive back the barbarians threatening our beloved lands". Requesting is putting it too lightly, since the vassal states never had a choice to begin with; it was more of a demand with a promise of glory, riches and prestige.

But too bad for the ones that went to the Inland Sea Gate, Line Ark is their enemy. Unlike the JSDF in Alnus Hill who would capture those who surrendered, Line Ark's national military takes in _only_ the high-ranking officials for information, and surrendering soldiers are more likely to be killed than spared. In fact, the captured officers were summarily executed once they've spilled every information they have that could help in the war.

Very inhumane, but pragmatic considering that there will be less mouths to feed and less space to occupy, what with Line Ark having a situation similar to WW2 Japan: militarily strong, economically weak, and in need of more space and resources to keep up with the demands.

Here's how the corpse disposal went: first the bodies were collected, then they're dumped into neat piles (*cough* haphazardly thrown to the mix *cough*), said piles get incinerated by flamethrowers, the resulting ashes and other remains get carted off to a designated mass grave, and BAM! Profit.

"Say, how is Line Ark going to deal with the Empire? Will you leave its people be once they can't fight anymore, or are you pursuing for absolute destruction and kill them all off?" he morbidly asked. Slightly disturbed she may be from that question, Zenna gave her a straight answer. "It's all a matter of what the Empire's next move would be. Right now, Line Ark's prioritizing five things: Colonization, weapons testing, rescue of the abducted civilians, research, and resource prospection. But if you'd ask me, we've already won against them."

He raised an eyebrow, "We?"

She shrugged, "You don't like the Saderans very much, even though they're the ones that give your salary. That makes you good enough in my books." that gave the dragon-riding mage a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Zenna."

Before they could say anything however, one of Zenna's subordinates came in. "Colonel, you're being called to the briefing room, ASAP. Command says it's a high priority mission." Her naturally optimistic expression turned into a frown. "A high-priority mission? Can't they just have spec-ops do that?"

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

"Granted."

"Hell if I know."

Zenna couldn't help but chuckle in amusement, "Should've expected that one. Let's go."

And when they arrived, they'll find out that the mission involved a downed AI-controlled plane on a certain hill, about half a thousand kilometers southwest from the Empires' capital.

* * *

**[CONFIDENTIAL]**

_ **Incident: Fallen Phoenix** _

_**Date: **_2200 Hours, 3/21/2075

_**Location:**_ Alnus Hill, Falmart

_**Casualties: **_Z.O.E. Unit Designation "Lieutenant-A06" (Unconfirmed, presumed destroyed and vital data captured)

_**Overview: **_Around 2200 hours in an area locally designated as Alnus Hill, a Z.O.E. Project aircraft has been lost, presumably shot down. Evidence from the communications log suggests a third party involved in shooting it down. The aforementioned third party faction presumably had access to anti-aircraft weaponry and, in turn, firearms. More importantly, energy signatures similar to the Gate has been detected by the Z.O.E. unit shot down, that in which is a very large issue to be concerned with by the national military HighCom members.

[Click to Collapse]

_ **Addendum 12412-1E232-A: Excerpt of Z.O.E Wing A's Communications Log** _

22:08:35, 3/21/2075 [**Captain-A02** to **Lieutenant -A06**: Move to Sector 7, coordinates X-12315, Y-12453, altitude 600 meters.]

22:08:36, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Affirmative, ETA 2 Minutes. 10 minutes before fuel shortage.]

.

22:10:12, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Coordinates reached, scanning area.]

22:13: 55, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Anomalous energy signatures detected, 100% match with Object "Gate". Signs of modernized open warfare on site.]

22:13:56, 3/21/2075 [**Captain-02 **to **Lieutenant -A06**: Change Scan Parameters to 'vehicles' and 'weapon systems', transmit live data to this unit.]

22:13:57, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Affirmative, continuing scans and sending data.]

.

22:14:23, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Impact damage to left wing, Structural Integrity at 85%. Unit is under attack, requesting to use weapons for a counterattack and retreat.]

22:14:24, 3/21/2075 [**Captain-A02** to **Lieutenant -A06**: Negative, continue scanning. Maintain connection and commence data purge once your Structural Integrity reaches critical point.]

22:14:25, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A02**: Affirmative, continuing mission.]

22:14:30, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant -A06** to **Captain-A06**: Impact damage and ignition to fuel tank, Structural Integrity 12%. Altitude is rapidly dropping, commencing data purge.]

22:14:32, 3/21/2075 [**Lieutenant-A06** to** Captain-A06**: Data purge failed, only 30% of critical data have been erased. Reporting Code 421 (1). Attempting to-]

22:14:33, 3/21/2075 [_Signal Lost_]

22:14:35, 3/21/2075 [**Captain-A06**: Code 421 received. Reporting to Commander (2).]

_ **Footnotes:** _

_(1) Code 421 refers to vital military asset/s lost and potentially in enemy hands._

_(2) AAS-03 "Equity", also known as "Z.O.E. Commander", is the Zone of Endless Project's highest-ranking AI unit in the entire project's air fleet, serving as the primary strategic, tactical and combat overseer._

* * *

_ **With the JSDF, 1500 hours…** _

* * *

"So, what do we have here?"

"At first glance, it's an F-22 with a red paintjob, but the interior says otherwise."

"Like?"

"The entire cockpit is entirely different from a standard Raptor's, and there's not enough space for a pilot to fit in. That implies that-"

"An unmanned variant, isn't it?"

"Well yes, that's our theory, General. We've managed to recover what could possibly be the plane's black box, but it's too well encrypted for us to access. We'll need a hacker that can bypass the encryption so we could know more about who sent this thing."

"Hmm… Find out what you can, I'll have the wreckage sent to a better-equipped facility in Japan for a more in-depth investigation. Is there anything of note that could give us a hint?"

"Uhh… We began to look for markings to ascertain the plane's owners, and there's a label saying '_Zone of Endless Project, Gründer Industries and Line Ark Military Research & Development Department'_, with respective emblems found on the plane."

"Gründer Industries? It sounds German, but I've never heard of an aircraft manufacturing company with that name."

"Same as us, sir. We also don't know who these Line Ark guys are, either."

"It doesn't matter. Regardless of who sent out this drone, one thing is for sure: There really is a faction of equal technology with ours, possibly even greater, here in the Special Region."

"So those rumors we've heard from the POWs we've captured in the recent battle are actually true, sir?"

"Exactly, and that fact alone is very alarming. Imagine if this faction had little to no restrictions in their rules of engagement and are as ruthless as the Empire..."

"That's…"

"We're getting off-track here. I've seen enough for this day, get back to work."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

_ **That evening, 2200 hours…** _

* * *

"_This is Ghost-01, all vehicles are ready."_

"Good. Everyone ready?"

"_Specter 01-here, we're locked and loaded."_

"_This is Poltergeist-01, we're good."_

"Alright. Operation's a go in 3, 2, 1, start. Cloaks on." With that sentence uttered, a dozen figures hidden in the darkness have vanished in sight.

As mentioned by Zenna earlier, these kind of missions are supposedly handled by special operations units. The problem is, _all _of the aforementioned spec-ops units are coordinating with ISIB in rooting out spies and traitors within Line Ark. The 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion are trained by a former Navy SEAL, which makes them the best alternative in doing the operation.

Line Ark also could've sent an envoy and retrieve the asset, but it's not that simple. They've got little to no information about the unknowns except for base assumptions and transmitted scans from the incident, and they can't risk wasting more assets and precious time in sending in more recon planes to the area.

It's paranoia speaking, but Line Ark wouldn't have lasted this long if it weren't for their lack of trust against anyone not one of theirs.

The battalion is divided into 5 groups: Wraith, Specter, Poltergeist, Ghost, and Spiridus, with each group composed of 16, 24, 50, 70, and 140 members respectively.

Wraith will search for the wrecked plane and destroy its AI core and black box.

Specter will scour the entire place for intel-gathering purposes.

Poltergeist will do some overwatch and alert their allies for any sudden enemy movements.

Spiridus are in charge of getting the whole battalion out of the AO, and are also tasked in securing an extraction point and the waypoints towards it.

Ghost are on standby for now, but are ready to provide cover for the others in case they get busted.

Sending a mere battalion against a military base – an incomplete one, but still a base nonetheless – would usually be considered suicide, but Ghost group had trucks, APCs, IMVs, and a couple MTs. They had enough assets and firepower to put up a fight in case things go south real fast.

With the base yet to be completed, most of the defenses only comprise of fortifications that could be easily set up by combat engineers, with barbwires and chain-link fences as good examples. A welding torch had sufficed in cutting through the thin metallic constructs, although they were nearly caught by some patrolling soldiers if it weren't for their exosuits' cloaking function.

"_This is Specter-13, did anybody notice they're speaking in Japanese?"_

"_Copy, Specter-13. Some of us did as well."_

"_Did Arisawa Heavy Industries have a Gate of their own?"_

Zenna shook her head. "It can't be it. ISIB's got some informants within the company, and they said nothing of the sort. Anyway, 5 minutes before cloak runs out. We better hurry."

"_Copy that, Wraith-01."_

The team of 16 silently yet quickly trudged through the neatly lined up barracks, leaving only footprints as an evidence of their excursion. Ahead are some soldiers out of uniform taking a stroll and chatting with each other, but nothing noteworthy could be heard from the conversation, so the group just left them alone.

Eventually, they saw a sizable warehouse bustling with activity despite being nighttime. There's a cargo truck standing by the building's entrance, and lo and behold! The target aircraft is there, about to be towed to the vehicle and ship it somewhere they'll never reach. Its missiles and machine gun ammunition are in a rack beside it.

"Damn it, we don't have much time! Specter 01, how's the intel gathering?"

"_We've knocked out the commander in his office. We're gathering whatever files we could, but I don't think we-"_

"Just grab whatever you can and get out of there! You have 2 to 3 minutes before we start blowing shit up, so move your ass on the double!"

"_Roger, will do."_

And when they thought that's the end of their problems, another one joined into the mix.

"_Poltergeist 01 to Specter and Wraith, the patrols are beginning to increase. You gotta do what you gotta do real quick, or you'll have to go out guns blazing when your cloak runs out."_

"_Noted, Poltergeist. We're done here and are about to leave. What about your team, Wraith-01?"_

"We're about to set the charges." Zenna replied. Once the area around the plane is clear, she gave the go signal the demolitions specialists to proceed. The four men jogging towards the target are carrying satchels containing thermite charges, each one capable enough of burning through 2 inches of composite armor.

The procedure wasn't too long, taking less than a minute in arming the thermite charges and setting them to the plane's critical areas and weapons bay. Once they went back, one of the specialists had handed over the detonator to Zenna, whose finger inched towards the button once her hand received the device.

"Alright, here comes the fireworks in 3… 2-"

Then came the alarmed shouts of some technicians that noticed the explosives.

"Shit! Here goes-" She pressed down the button hard. "- nothing!"

A bright flash and a sizzling sound occurred for a full minute, but they were long gone before the spectacle waned, and the only remnant of their masterpiece is the mass of red-painted steel and molten slag.


	9. Not A Chapter

I'll stop updating in AO3, since working with three websites is quite a hassle. If you wish to continue reading this fic, go to my accounts at FF dot net and Wattpad.


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